1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a continual sausage stuffing or filling apparatus, in which the sausage mixture is pushed into a sausage casing at a constant forward feed for the formation of a sausage strand, wherein the sausage stuffing apparatus incorporates a gripper apparatus with constricting forks which are fastened to rotating chains, and which intermittently engage into the sausage strand in order to divide the latter into regular portions.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Currently known sausage stuffing machines employed for the manufacture of portioned sausages are based primarily on the chamber principle. Hereby, for producing a volumetrically constant remaining portion volume, the sausage mixture is pressed into a chamber having an adjustable volume, thereafter pushed through a filling conduit into the sausage casing and then divided through twisting. This process is effected intermittently through interruption of the filling flow for the twisting or rotation, and the repeated filling and emptying of the apportioning chamber. The filling rhythm and, consequently, the output of these machines is restricted by the low load capacity of the sausage casings which are to be employed and through the dynamic conditions of the operating procedure.
In addition thereto, continuous sausage stuffing processes are known, wherein there are produced sausage portions from a sausage mixture strand which is pushed without interruption into a sausage casing and with continuously effected division. Such processes are described, for instance, in German Laid-open Pat. application No. 1,432,559 and German Pat. No. 1,051,672, as well as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,697,850; 2,776,449; 2,698,960; 2,698,691 and 1,245,652. In these processes the sausage mixture flow is produced through the intermediary of a continuously operating displacement pump. The division is regularly effected by means of an arrangement whose speed is correlated with the conveyed sausage mixture quantity. The division of the sausage strand may, for example, be accomplished by two interengaging chains with grippers, wherein the sausage strand and the sausage casing are held in constant rotation through the use of a turning spout and, in that manner there is produced the permanent division due to the twisting or rotation.
The drawback of these procedures consists of in that the portions must always be pushed at an approximately equal length in conformance with the distribution of the pickups on the gripper chain and, on the other hand, due to the high loads which are produced during the constriction of the filled sausage strand, there can be utilized only extremely tough and resistant sausage casings. Moreover, the heretofore realizable continual stuffing or filling machines were only applicable to relatively soft sausage mixtures which could be conveyed without problems in the mixture feed passageways formed with sharp edges and bends. The foregoing imparted a significant limitation to the range of application of known sausage stuffing machines.